Late Bloomer
by chaotic-inkme
Summary: Nico di Angelo's been small...his entire life. And he avoids the awkwardness about it with others by never sticking around. Now, he's come back to camp once more...and Percy Jackson is anything but ready for the sight.


"How can you be so clueless!"

Nico clutched his ears, curling in on himself and attempting to block out the horrible screams and poundings on the walls around him with a blanket cocoon.

It had been happening for months.

First, Leo had gotten knocked away by an attacking sea monster while the seven had been on their prophecy mission and instantly fell into unconsciousness. He'd been trying to protect the injured Hazel and she thanked him gratefully for it when he woke up. But he hadn't listened. Although everyone had said everything possible to try and convince the poor son of Hephaestus that the close call on Hazel's life was something that had happened to each of them at some point, the boy wasn't going to hear it.

Then, barely two days later, Jason nearly had an arm blown off when Leo's "modified" engine malfunctioned and exploded. Leo's confidence was nearly wrecked to shreds.

Thankfully, the Latino demigod had a week's break from any bad luck, karma or mojo. The others believed that everything that had happened was just mental for their pilot and for a while all would be good.

Then Leo was finally broken.

Piper had just been standing too close to the deck's edge. Percy just hadn't been paying attention. And Leo just wasn't fast enough.

Before anyone could react, Leo's newest invention, a hovering remote control for the Argo II's engine and navigation, went haywire and headed straight for the unsuspecting daughter of Aphrodite. Piper swerved when Leo screamed "Watch out!" when he realized, too slowly, that he couldn't shut down his machine. But the device snagged her shoulder. She toppled over the edge of the ship, screaming for help.

Those on deck yelled for Percy, who was busy training with headphones in and the music turned up on high. Hazel ripped them out and Annabeth shoved her boyfriend in the direction Piper had fallen.

By the time the sea demigod managed to resuscitate Piper, she was paler than Nico and Coach Gleeson had to use their limited oxygen masks and tanks to get her breathing normally. Leo apologized, obsessively, until Piper had to charmspeak him into stopping.

The next morning, Leo surprised everyone. He walked onto the deck, cracked an unrelated-to-the-subject joke and stuffed his face full of waffles and blueberry syrup. He went about his day, just as a normal Leo would: cracking jokes, annoying his fellow shipmates, and working to improve the ship...within the confines of the engine room to avoid any more catastrophes.

No one had to attempt to convince him that nothing was his fault. He appeared to have deflected everything on his own.

He'd even earned an extra slice of cherry pie from an impressed Annabeth after he announced his plans to soundproof everyone's rooms. With claps and cheers, Leo gained permission for every room but one.

Nico di Angelo's.

The quiet and quite depressing son of Hades refused to allow his bedroom (which had graciously been given to him by Leo himself) to be soundproofed for the simple reason that no one wanted to hear every other couple and their "interactions". Nico wasn't part of a couple. Nor did he think he would be anytime soon. And he could block out anything if he tried hard enough.

But Nico wasn't ready for that night's noises.

Even with Nico's disapproval, Leo had gone straight to work on at least the rest of the groups' walls. And he'd finished just before lights out, getting him another sweet treat form the overjoyed Wise Girl.

Just around eleven o'clock, before Nico was startled out of his bed, he'd actually been enjoying a very surprisingly welcome silence and a very gruesome Stephen King novel.

Then, WHAM, a resonating pound had the son of Hades falling out his sheets and onto the floor. For once since Leo had brought up the idea, Nico was glad that the soundproofing kept anyone from hearing that horribly embarrassing tumble.

There wasn't another sound for at least thirty seconds. This time, it was someone screaming, "How could you be so stupid!".

Nico followed the source and using his mental map of the ship, deduced that the wall his bed was against was the wall shared with the control room of the Argo II. Only one person was allowed in there anymore. Only one person was really brave enough to go in there anymore.

"You idiot!" He shouted again, adding more slams and crashes. "You no-good, worthless, piece of crap!" Leo cried out in agony and then just plain out wept on the other side of the wall. It went on for three hours that night. Nico had a shaking hand over his mouth then entire time. His palm was bright red from biting down when Leo had either finally fallen asleep or gotten out all those negative emotions.

He wanted to speak to the suffering boy in the control room. Which was strange for him. But he knew too well what was happening. Or at least he'd done something similar. Leo Valdez was angry. And slamming, screaming and breaking things was a constructive way to vent without any personal contact, if more destructive.

It would just be a one night deal. Just that night and Leo would fully be alright.

It was anything but.

For months on end, Leo would continue to be his perky, impish, annoying self around the others. He would stuff his face, make corny jokes and tinker like the Hephaestus child he was. But at night, the fiery beast came out.

Without the knowledge that Nico could hear everything he was doing, Leo would throw tools and inventions across the room, breaking them instantly. He would kick and punch the control room walls, and finally, to end the hours upon hours of screaming and self-insults, Leo Valdez would curl up against the wall closest to Nico di Angelo and cry.

Sometimes, Nico would cry along with him.

Knowing of Leo's nighttime habits, Nico would watch the repair boy during the day. And by watching so closely and for so long, Nico became entranced.

Leo was special and different. Never without a gear or a pipe cleaner helicopter in his hands, the Spanish demigod never seemed to have or want time to socialize with others. Especially not when things began to go wrong. Yes, he would make his usual jokes and comments, but most seemed to be halfhearted nowadays. And he was stuffing his face full of food more to avoid conversation.

Nico noted the good with bad.

The unruly mess of chocolate curls. The unique point of his elvish ears. And the grin of boy stupidity and pure not-caring that no one saw anymore. Nico actually began to miss seeing it, even if that grin had made him want to put a strip of duct tape over Leo's mouth before.

Finally, after nights after nights of Nico's heart breaking from Leo's suffering, he wasn't going to continue lying to himself that Leo was going to stop when he continuously proved that he was stuck in a continuous cycle of pain and misery. And no one else could hear Leo Valdez but Nico di Angelo. No one else had lived through that same torment but Nico di Angelo.

Nico switched off his lights when he heard the first scream of "You can't even protect your own friends! You don't deserve them. You don't deserve anything!" Ignoring further cries and hammering noises, Nico warped the shadows and traveled to the other side of the wall.

"Valdez, stop!" Nico tackled the boy to the floor, keeping him still until Leo stopped attempting to struggle under him. Leo's wrists were held against his stomach and Nico had a leg pressed across Leo's shins.

"Nico? How did you-" Nico covered Leo's questions with his free hand and cocking a brow, stated, "Didn't let you soundproof my room, remember?"

Leo's face fell and his cheeks reddened. Nico had heard everything. For the past five months, Leo had taken everything out on that control room. And Nico knew about every time that he did. He knew about everything that Leo had done. He was beyond ashamed.

The humiliated demigod crawled backwards, away from Nico, pure fear written on his vulnerable face. When he hit the nearest object, the table covered in blueprints and broken and half-finished projects, most of them fluttered or crashed to the floor around Leo. He was barely fazed.

"_You know_." He forced out. "You heard everything! I didn't-no one was supposed..." Leo couldn't even form a complete sentence. Tears flooded down his cheeks and sobs wrecked his attempts at English. Nico tried reaching out to Leo, but the frightened boy only hurt himself trying to get farther away from the son of Hades.

"Valdez, I don't normally or _willingly_ touch other people. And right now, that's what I need to do to help you. Please," Nico reached out again, olive fingers holding steady as he continued to wait for the doe-eyed Leo. "I can help you."

With a sniffle and a wipe for stray tears, Leo cautiously slid over to the waiting Underworld boy and nestled into the waiting arms of Nico di Angelo. He cried, just for a bit. When Nico took the odd chance on twirling Leo's curls with his fingers, Leo quieted completely, not even a sniffle escaping.

"You're okay. It's alright. Shh." Nico soothed the poor Latino, keeping his own empathic tears at bay. There would be no more crying that night.

"I'm so sorry." Leo whimpered. Nico tried to shush him, but Leo wouldn't hear it. "I was so angry. And weak. I couldn't get control...I wanted to fix everything wrong and I couldn't. And it was eating me alive." Leo gasped and clutched onto Nico as if his life depended on him.

Nico shook his head and cradled Leo on his lap. "No, it was none of those things. You were forced to deal with every spiraling, raging emotion by yourself. No one should do that." Nico regretted saying that to Leo, even if it might make him feel better. He felt like a hypocrite. And Leo noticed.

"Like you do?" he mumbled.

"No." Nico corrected. "Like I-_we_ are going to. Together. Like we should have handled it." Leo nodded into Nico's chest and asked quietly if there was somewhere less...destroyed that they could go to. Nico chuckled and aided Leo to his feet. Holding the weakened demigod against his chest, Nico shadow traveled them back to his bedroom.

Leo fell toward the bed, faint from even the short trip, but Nico caught him halfway down. "My bad. It's usually just me." Nico apologized, waiting patiently until Leo was able to stare without being cross-eyed before talking again. "Do you want to lie down?"

"_Only_," Leo tapped Nico's nose. "If you put me on that abundance of pillows and stay there with me." He made grabby hands at Nico's many dark pillows.

"Glad to see you're feeling better." Leo poked Nico's chest, forcing him to put the baby-like demigod down and follow after him. Leo immediately wrapped around Nico the second he plopped down on the bed.

Leo hummed his appreciation into Nico, who settled into an awkward position made comfortable by the bounty pillows Leo had acknowledged and begged to curl up in. "I'm sorry I've kept you up for..._so long_."

Nico brought Leo closer, if that was even possible, and muttered, "I don't sleep much anyway. Not since, you know, Tartarus and the jar. Look, it doesn't matter. I may barely be able to sleep, but you can just fine." Leo frowned, refusing to just give in. Nico deserved something for helping him.

"If you're not going to sleep, then I'll just stay up and annoy you. Like a good friend!" Leo looked at Nico with wide, now hopeful eyes and then began his annoying tactics. "Nico, Nico, _Nico_. Hello, Nico? Are you sleepy? How about now? Now? How about-"

"Alright!" Nico gave up. Leo's ability _was _to annoy. "What can I do to get you to shut up and go to sleep?"

Leo pouted and said in his best baby voice, "Well, a kiss might be nice." Then he chuckled and burrowed more into the pillows. "I mean," He shrugged and slyly smiled. "If you want."

He was probably joking. Leo never took anything, even fighting monsters, seriously. Nico didn't really care if he was. He threaded his long fingers into Leo's messy curls and tilted his head up to press a gentle kiss to the Latino demigod's lips. Leo jumped and clamped his hands onto Nico's wrists.

Before Nico pulled away, he nipped at those soft, inviting lips and kept his hand in Leo's hair, twirling those seductive curls with his fingers again.

"I was ju-just joking." Leo attempted to pass off his dazed aura, but his thundering heartbeat Nico could definitely hear was a dead giveaway.

"Sure you were." Nico pulled at Leo's bottom lip with his teeth and gave Leo's hair a gentle tug. Nico lulled Leo into a relaxed state with kisses and tugs and curl twirling as they waited for the other to drift off in a silent competition against each other.

Neither boy slept better than they did while in each other's arms. That night or the next ones. And neither boy smiled more than the mornings woken up by light kisses and the suspicious stares they were given at the messed up hair and swollen lips they walked into rooms with.

There were no more screams from the other side of the wall.


End file.
